[~misfit~[_3_]]

On 15/02/2020 10:05 am, wrote:
On Thursday, February 13, 2020 at 9:44:15 AM UTC-5, ~misfit~ wrote:
I have a pair of 2-way speakers that I like very much - except they go too
high and are too bright. They're Sony SSK-30s and otherwise make great
near-field monitors in my office. They image and reproduce voice
exceptionally well.

I'll be 60 next year and can't hear a huge amount above around 16 - 17 kHz.
However they distract me too much with sounds that I can barely hear (no
other
speakers that I've heard lately do this). Because of this they're tiring to
listen too. Sony sold them as being ideal for SACD and claim they go up to
70
kHz (and call them "Extended Definition" speakers).

So what can I add to the cross-over to attenuate the highest highs but leave
the main body of the upper frequencies at the same level? A tiny inductor?
Surely a resistor would drop all tweeter frequencies and mess with the
balance?

I would posit that what you find irritating is not the presence of
stuff above 15 kHz, but stuff below that. And if there IS a lot of
HF material, especially extended bandwidth material (and I'd give
at least even odds there is NOT), then what you are finding annoying
is the result of some non-linear process in the speakers.

There is a lot of HF material in the music that I like. I guess the speakers could be non-linear in
the high-end, they were sold as "ED" (for extended definition) and Sony says they go up to 70kHz.

These speakers have quite a following. In Japan (where they are finished in 'piano black' lacquer)
they're sold singly and are often used for all positions in a home theatre.

They weren't a success when sold in the US so there were a lot of forum posts when Circuit City
slashed the retail price of them to $60 or less a pair to clear the line in 2006.
https://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/insignia-vs-sony-ss-k30ed-one-year-later.120083/#post-1273521

https://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/60-00-pair-audiophile-speakers-from-sony.76953/
https://www.reddit.com/r/audiophile/comments/3duahs/sony_ssk30ed_bookshelf_speakers_from_mid2000s/

I bought mine second-hand maybe two years ago. They had been used as monitors in an A/V recording
studio for over 10 years and they were only selling as they were going to powered monitors so they
could do away with their amplifier rack.

Sadly (for me) they were never sold cheaply here and, as everyone seems to live on the internet
these days and can find reviews like the above, people selling them second-hand are asking crazy
prices. I just saw four of them being sold for $600 last month and they had tears in the grilles
and the vinyl covering wrinkling and bubbling so had likely been in sunlight for extended periods.
They sold quite quickly.

To put it bluntly, I would not be the least bit surprised to find
that something in your speakers (or, more generally, somewhere in
your system) is broken. It could be a mechanical problem in the
tweeters like a buzz or rattle problem, there could be some electronic
issue somewhere, all of which is if there IS very high frequency
information, generating signal at a level higher enough and a frequency
low enough that it would be EASILY audible to you if isolated.

I've tried them with different amps, pre-amps and sources and the issue remains. There are no
issues with the drivers or cabinets. I have had other people listen to them and they comment on how
clear and bright the highs are.

That's the suspect I would be pursuing, knowing what I know about
such things.

I appreciate your input.
--
Shaun.

"Humans will have advanced a long, long way when religious belief has a cozy little classification
in the DSM"
David Melville

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